I'm finishing up my very first afghan and can't wait to post a picture on the chat area with finished objects! This afghan is made out of 50% alpaca and 50% wool and the next one I will start is 100% merino wool. How do you wash your favorite items made with wool when the instructions simply say "hand wash"? I'm hoping there is a way to do it safely in the washing maching using cold water on a delicate cycle. What do you think?
Thanks for your help!

What I've been doing lately, and have had good luck with it, is to fill the washer with cool water and a bit of wool wash on delicate. I let it agitate to get the soap blended, but NEVER let the wool items agitate, not even for a moment.

Then I put the woolies in and let them soak for a while, then let the machine spin them out, refill to rinse and turn the knob to skip the agitation. Let them sit for a bit and spin out.

I haven't lost anything yet by letting them spin out in the washer, but I can't guarantee that it will work for everything.

I do find, however, that I'm more likely to 'hand wash' when I can do it in the machine. The items dry faster after I lay them out. (NO dryer)